The DBQ Project Method™
The DBQ Project 6-Step Method underpins the design of all our DBQs and Mini-Qs. Each step builds on students’ curiosity and increases motivation and confidence to answer a compelling, authentic question.
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Step 1: The HookEngages students and orients them to the question. |
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Step 2: Background EssayFurther orients students to the question and provides essential context that helps make sense of the documents. |
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Step 3: Understanding the QuestionHelps students plan so they can target their investigation of the documents. Clarifying the question motivates students to start reading their sources to find answers. |
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Step 4: Document AnalysisIt’s like you’re a detective! The documents provide clues and evidence students need to support their thesis or claim. They provide the knowledge and information students need to answer the question. |
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Step 5: Bucketing, Chickenfoot & Thrash-outHelps students get organized. Buckets become containers for evidence that students use to categorize or group evidence from the documents. Students prepare to write by debating or “thrashing-out” their answer to the question. Students practice using evidence from the documents to support and verbally validate their claims. They use what they learn to outline their essays. |
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Step 6: The EssayStudents write multi-paragraph, evidence-based essays using their documents, buckets, and outlines to support and explain their reasoning. |
The DBQ Project Method provides a framework of best practices that guides teachers and students to read smart, think straight, and write clearly.
How do you teach a DBQ?
It is much easier to assign a DBQ than to teach one. Using document-based questions as a method of instruction rather than just an exam is at the heart of DBQ’s philosophy.
To master high-level skills, students need high-level instruction.
“Before now, the benefits of the Document Based Questions have been almost exclusively limited to the AP classroom. But, with The DBQ Project materials and training, all of our students are starting to benefit. Plus, with the focus on how Social Studies teachers can contribute to the Common Core and the emphasis on non-fiction informational texts, this is a great fit. We are only in the beginning stages of implementation, but I already like what I am seeing in classrooms.”
– Stacy Moore, Social Studies Curriculum Coordinator, Union County, NC.
